About an hour before the big reveal of the “Botanical Graffiti” exhibit at San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) in June, Tahoe City florist Sahra Otero thought back on her last few days of unwrapping, processing and arranging thousands of flowers in the museum’s rotunda.
“We drove down from Tahoe with a van full of carnations. Imagine a bunch of flowers, each one the size of a person’s head, in the box.” –Sahra Otero
The vision for the installation was created by floral artist Beth O’Reilly, who recently competed on “Full Bloom,” an HBO Max original series. O’Reilly hired leads to help her carry out her vision, each furiously working to reach the goal before the museum’s “Art Alive 2021” opening.
Otero, owner of Heartwood Floristry & Planetarium in Tahoe City (formerly known as Wanda’s), was chosen as one of the leads; she worked five 18-hour days to have the opportunity to be involved in this annual event.
“It’s such an honor to be here,” Otero said. “Art Alive is San Diego museum’s biggest fundraiser, and this is the 40th annual event. It’s beloved by the community.”
Besides owning a flower shop and having graphic design experience, one of the highlights of Otero’s role is hosting floral design workshops. In 2019 before the pandemic, Otero did a three-story floral installation in New Orleans in The Haunted Mansion. O’Reilly took notice of Otero’s arrangement and hired Otero to be a lead on the SDMA’s rotunda portion of the “Art Alive 2021” show.
“I heard in April that ‘Art Alive’ was coming back and that Beth was the rotunda designer. It takes a lot of hands to do this, so she needed people to execute her vision. I was one of seven leads to help manage the project and stay on vision, and then was in charge of the suspended pieces. It was a little intimidating at first, but it all came together,” Otero said.
She estimates that close to 150 boxes of flowers were used (close to 15,000 stems), each foot of design accommodating around 15 bunches of flowers.
“We drove down from Tahoe with a van full of carnations. Imagine a bunch of flowers, each one the size of a person’s head, in the box,” Otero said.
Putting together the installation was dirty and hard work, but the final product looks lush and colorful, an arrangement so vivid it almost doesn’t seem real. The mix of fresh, painted and preserved flowers include sunflowers, carnations, Baby’s Breath, anthuriums and roses — just to name a few.
“We had 500 bunches of tinted Baby’s Breath, that’s the fluffy texture you see in the pictures,” she added, explaining that color-safe floral spray allows the flower petals to pop and show through.
“It was in my hair, I found Baby’s Breath in my armpit,” she said. “Florists are the hardest working people you’ll ever meet. After working extensively with flowers, you’ll have bruises, scratches. [The installation] took an enormous amount of effort.”
However, Otero doesn’t mind the hustle to reach the goal and is more than willing to throw herself into the work. When she took over the Tahoe City flower shop in 2012, she had no floral arrangement experience — and now she’s the lead person for larger-than-life installations not only in her own shop but in special projects around the U.S.
“I worked really hard to revitalize [the flower shop]. I was very busy and terrified that I couldn’t do it,” she said. “But when we’re faced with challenges like that, we push through it. I got faster, got better, went to design workshops. I’m all about collaboration over competition. Beth is a big inspiration for me; she’s so humble and kind. People like her are who have made me so successful as a florist.”
She also credits her solid team back in Tahoe keeping things together while she’s away doing special projects.
“Sydney Malafronte is my lead salesperson and she really wanted to go, but as we went into summer at the floral shop she offered to stay behind. Even her husband is making arrangements now,” Otero said. “Alicia Gallagher is my second designer and she’s here with me. She’s been on workshops and is working with me on the suspended items. I could not be here if most of my team was not there.”
With that, Otero scooted off to celebrate the completion of “Botanical Graffiti,” which is no longer on view at the museum, but virtual tours are still available on SDMA’s web site. | heartwoodflorist.com, sdmart.org
